Happy 4th Everyone

Baptism Day

Good Monday morning to you. Yesterday was Norah's Baptism Day, she was christened Norah Lynn Dickens. It was beautiful, my oldest daughter Jenn was godmother and Norah wore a cotton gown embrodiered with tiny shamrocks that were also on the bonnet. Soon I will have some photos as I forgot my camera as usual. it is wonderful to have this amazing family.

The Times They are achanging...

Today,I have read a few blogs and spoke to a few people at the apothecary and I have been greatly impressed by the amount of change happening in all of our lives. Some of my friends are sad at their changes and yet others embrace them like a wild ride. It makes me wonder is it the time of my life to notice such things or is it the time of man? Are we preparing or just living? I ponder this and wonder whats next, hoping it will be a time of joy and human love, better than any time before, for all of us. Let's open our hearts to each other and listen.

Reaching Even Further

The past week found me to be building my own "real" website. I have spent hours creating a home page, catalog pages, and even buttons. I'm feeling a little fried and house bound. So as an antidote I will be working in my garden most of today, dodging showers all the while. If you click on the title of this post you will magically find yourself at my new site such as it is at the moment. I'm still learning about sizing my photos and so there lies the stumbling block. But all in good time. Seamstress of Blackstone

Hello Dear Friends

In the past few days I've been keenly aware of my lack of just communicating on my blog. I have focused primarily on creating a space that exhibited my work and have forgotten that you and I are people that need to chat and share events and ideas. I will begin to share with you the every day tales of my life at Blackstone and hope that you find them amusing, inspiring and hopefully not boring. I will try, I promise, to write at least once a week, maybe more. I start this with the best of intentions but you know what they say the road to hell is paved with. Please visit and join me in these conversations. As always, Seamstress of Blackstone

Juliette of the Herbs

Juliette de Bairacli Levy went home. She past away at the 28 of May 2009 peaceful without pains. Juliette was considered the mother of modern herbal studies and was the first to create a holistic way of raising animals. I learned all I know of natural animal rearing from her books. She left traditional medicine to learn from the Gypsies and peasants of Europe. She will be missed by all who practice herbal medicine.

George ~ $28.00

Star and Crow ~ $22.00 Liberty ~ $28.00

Granny's Kitchen Table

I've just been reminded of the story telling that wove it's way around my grandparents kitchen table. When I was a little girl my grandfather told me stories of how he was raised on a horse farm in Virginia. Uncle Henry was the son of freed slaves and he and his wife Mae lived on the farm. Uncle Henry helped with the farm and taught my Grandfather all he knew or ever needed to know about horsemanship and life. Aunt Mae tended to the children and helped with the house chores. My Grandfather loved them as his own and always had a tear in his eye and a soft voice when he spoke of them. This pattern is from the hands and heart of Netty LaCroix but when I finished and looked at the doll before me I saw the kind eyes of Uncle Henry and so it is. Maybe Aunt Mae will present herself some where down this road of sewing folk characters. My memory is full with these folks, I surely hope they come to call

Dear Oda Mae

Oda Mae ~ $22.00

In the Sweet Meadow Grass

Lambs ~ $16.00

THANK YOU, NETTY

To Bring Them Home

In the past few months I have found myself drawn to folk heroes and the music that tells these tales. Coal miners, itinerant farmers, homesteaders, men who worked the rails and their families. These people are the salt of the earth and their stories untold. I will tell these stories by sewing folk characters and giving each of them a life tale. Some patterns I have found among the work of some very talented artists and some will come from my heart, inspired by story and song. Please enjoy them as I present them to you. Some of my photos are rough but they will get better I promise.

"Whenever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Whenever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there . . . . I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad an'-I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready. An' when our folks eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build-why, I'll be there." Tom Joad, The Grapes of Wrath

Studio Work

Old Pinpus $22.00

In Head & Heart $18.00

Edgar~$28.00 Prim Angel~$22.00